On Wedding Protocols (and other shit that came to mind)

Went to the wedding of the daughter of a co-worker who is also a close friend of my wife's.  I must admit that it was one hell of a shin-dig.  Nice service, pretty damned good food, and great conversation with friends.  And, for once, I managed to not get drunk and make a complete ASS out of myself.  *self high-five*

However, I once again witnessed a breach of wedding protocol that I feel the need to rant about on this here site....

Okay, if you're the parent of a baby/toddler, I can TOTALLY understand if you felt the need to bring the young one to the wedding.  Either you couldn't find a sitter OR you decided that this child HAD to be at this event (for whatever reason).  However, MUST you sit in the middle of the aisle and allow the child to rant, rave, cry, and otherwise disrupt the beauty of the service for the rest of us?
I would point out that social protocols in this case would dictate that you sit towards the rear of the church so that you can get out quickly if your child throws a hissy fit.  However, should you decide you need to be closer to the action (and I can understand that, believe it or not), at least do us a favor and sit near the end of the aisle so that you can actually get up and out if need be.  On that note, please GET UP AND TAKE THE KID OUT if they're starting to throw a fit.  I can speak from experience that merely handing the child to another family member or allowing them to play on the floor will, more often than not, NOT get them to calm down and be quiet, but rather get them MORE wound up than they already were, which, of course, makes them louder than they were prior. 

My point, dear readers, is this:  please think of EVERYONE at the service, not just yourself.  Thank you.

Okay, with that off my chest, onto some general thoughts I wanted to share....

-Been dieting for about a month and a half now, and have managed to carve 40 pounds off.  I'd say that's a hell of an accomplishment, but I still need to lose about 120 more pounds.  Shit.

-Still not anywhere NEAR finalizing the edits on my book, so you'll have to keep hearing me bitch about it.  Of course, if I'd actually WORK on it, it might get closer to being finished.  Just saying....

-What the hell happened to my Cardinals?  Since the All-Star break, they suck.  Sure, I can point to the loss of Yadier Molina for some of it, but, at some point SOMEBODY has to step up and be a leader, and right now I don't see one.  Kudos to the Royals, however, for going on a monumental win streak over the past 20 or so games.  Looking pretty damned good.

-Whilst we're on the subject of Cardinals, or ex-Cards at least, what the hell was Jack Clark thinking when he called out Albert Pujols on his radio show for using PED's?  I'm sure in Jack's mind, he has all the evidence he needs for that, but without hard proof, he left himself open to getting fired.  However, I would also point out that he swore up and down that Mark McGwire was using steroids long before Big Mac actually admitted it, so the guy DOES have a bit of a track record.  And, when you look at the types of injuries Pujols has suffered from over the past few years, Jack may have a point.  Albert MIGHT want to reconsider his legal action, since every skeleton in his closet WILL wind up coming out should he decide to press the issue.  If I'm him, be satisfied with Clark's dismissal from the radio and let it be.  Push the issue too far, and you could actually wind up making some sort of martyr out of Clark.

-As a fan of NCIS, I'm disappointed to see that Cote de Pablo (Ziva David) is leaving the show after the second episode of the upcoming season.  While I haven't yet seen anything that explains WHY she's leaving, after putting in eight solid seasons, I can certainly see why she might want to move on.  It just sucks for those of us who love the show and her character.  I just hope that the promised "wrap up" for her character is a good one, and that she doesn't wind up leaving the same way the last two regulars on the show did (if you don't know, you need to watch the show, player).

-On that same note, I'm disappointed to see that CBS chose NOT to go forward with the series NCIS:RED.  While I can understand not wanting to flood the market, it would have been wise to put a third series into production, since I'll lay even money NCIS has about two more seasons before Mark Harmon decides he's had enough, and those who know the show know it's done when he is.  But, based just on the "back-door pilot" they did with NCIS:LA, I can understand if they though the concept a little weak.  In my (amateur) opinion, they'd be better served to re-do the pilot as a genuine pilot episode, without having to run two shows worth of characters through the paces.  Maybe, just maybe, they'd have a better shot.

-Still got some "top secret" stuff going on at the house, and it kills me that I can't talk about it on the blog.  However, I'm very happy with what's up, and look forward to the opportunity to eventually (hopefully) tell all of you about it.

Until next time, I'm the Fat Guy, and I approved this message.